Brave Princess
by onceuponatime47
Summary: After a scouting trip goes wrong, Octavia is badly injured and Clarke is left feeling guilty. Bellamy blames her but can he overcome his feelings to let her help him get the the only thing that can save his sister? Bellarke, set sometime before the season 2 finale but after 2x10. Slightly AU, rated T for violence


"Come on Octavia, we're almost there," Clarke gasps.

The brunette is slipping away, eyes beginning to roll back in her head. Clarke has her arm slung around Octavia's waist and the other girl's arm is wrapped around her neck. Her feet are being dragged through the underbrush. Clarke pants heavily as they near camp. She stumbles over a tree root and curses herself for the accident. Her leg is throbbing and blood is drying black on her shoulder. Her mind is in a frenzy. It could be in the trees. Just right behind them. _This is my fault. _

A break in the forest ahead is all Clarke needs to keep going. "Help!" she screams. Her voice is hoarse and her head spins. "Somebody, please help us!" she grunts and pulls Octavia through the trees and out into the open.

It takes a second too long but in a flash the guards are upon them, decked out with their Ark uniforms. A select few depart from the group and fan out into the tress behind them. _Where is Bellamy?_ As Clarke hands off the limp warrior girl to a couple of young men she scans the group approaching the fence.

She needs him. No, Octavia needs him. She casts a stricken look at the now unconscious girl. Her heart thunders in her chest. One of the Ark members approaches her. "You should get to camp."

His hand rests on the small of her back as an indication to get moving. She quickly pulls away and sets out at the quickest jog she can manage.

A crowd has formed. She starts to push her way through but they part for her like the seas. She's Clarke Griffin, the girl who killed 300 Grounders in under a minute. You move for her. Reaching the front, she catches a glimpse of Octavia being carried inside, her mother a few steps behind. Clarke doesn't see him at first, but once she does she can't look away.

Bellamy is broken. His normally composed face is a mask of panic and despair. He sees her and in seconds is an inch away. His hands are on her shoulders, shaking her. "What happened, Clarke? What happened?"

She stares into his crazed eyes for a moment before she chokes out the truth.

It was a stupid idea for only four people to go. Yes. Four. The other two were dead. A hunting party had come back claiming they had seen something in the woods. They should have sent more people. Octavia had volunteered of course. Grounders were a touchy subject for her. She'd bite off your head if you trash talked Lincoln or what he had done for them.

Octavia had been getting more and more headstrong lately and Clarke and offered to go as well to keep an eye on her. She didn't mention that was why though. There was much debate about her going, Kane insisted she stay and discuss their plans for Mount Weather with Lexa. She had silenced him saying her didn't something to distract her about Finn. Finn. His name was still rough on her tongue. His name was taboo in camp. No one dared mention him in her presence. They didn't' respect him. They wanted him to die; none had the guts to do it. But she did. She loved him and she stabbed him.

Not long into their travels had they been assaulted. The first guard with them never stood a chance. It had come from the trees, reminiscent of the Grounder attacks but it was far from human. With fangs their curved from a pointed snout and eyes that glinted in the few rays of sunlight penetrating the canopy of trees, it gouged out his eyes. He choked on his own blood before it ripped out his throat. Then, without warning, it was back in the trees. "Run!" she'd screamed.

They ran. A full minute passed before the second attack. The second guard-his name had been Tom- was lagging behind, looking into the trees. He screamed as it leapt onto his back. And then it was gone. Fear consumed her with its disappearance. Tom was still alive. She ran to his side to help, tried to pull him up. Then it took Octavia. "Clarke!" it had pulled her into the foliage.

Clarke hadn't wanted to abandon Tom but after a second she laid him down with the promise of return only to see his eyes had glazed over. Ready to shoot she'd charged after Octavia and the monster. To her relief Octavia was still alive. She fired off a few rounds and its banshee shriek made her head ring. It charges her, slashes her leg and climbs up her back before making its escape into the trees. Its claws are razor sharp. She helped up Octavia and got her back to camp. She was badly wounded. There was so much blood it was hard to tell but Octavia was a strong girl. If she was barely walking then it was bad.

"It's my fault. I'm sorry Bellamy. I should have gotten there sooner. He was a goner, we both knew that… I…"

Bellamy is silent after she recounts the incident. Then he's livid. His hands fly to his head. He pulls at his hair. His eyes are lit with fury and fear. "How could you just leave her there?"

It's his sister and he panicking. The one person he loved was dying and he's lost. He turns his fury on her, the only other girl who had any hope of understanding him. "Every since Finn died, you haven't been the same! You've lost your game Clarke! You're going to get people killed!"

The crowd is pulling back slightly. These two were leaders of the 100 and they were falling apart at the seams. It's too personal. Clarke stings at his retort and watches him retreat into the fallen space vessel to watch over his sister. She squeezes her eyes shut for a brief second. She wants to pretend that his words don't hurt her. That's he's just another person. But she can't. God, why does he mean so much to her?


End file.
